The Golden Fireballs came from behind to beat the North West Flames 48-44 in a humdinger of a match in the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League at the Durban University of Technology on Friday night.

Neither side was able to dominate and the lead changed hands several times. The Fireballs won the first quarter by one goal, and the Flames the second by two, to lead 23-21 at halftime. The Fireballs won the third and fourth, but the outcome of the match was still in doubt until the final whistle. Because of the closeness of the match, neither coach was able to make two many changes and largely stuck to their starting line-ups. The outstanding player was the Flames goal attack, Renske Stoltz, who seemed to be able to score from any part of the circle.

“The whole game we struggled to close Renske down,” said Fireballs coach Elsje Jordaan.

“She is really on song at the moment, and very nearly took the game away from us. Out main priority was trying to prevent the ball from getting into their circle, because she is so dangerous.

“The win will be a great confidence booster – the Fireballs have to learn how to win these difficult matches,” said Jordaan.

Flames coach Dorette Badenhorst said she was not disappointed that they had lost to a team like the Fireballs but she was disappointed that her team had not played good netball.

“We made too many mistakes and lost too many centre passes. You can’t win matches if you don’t win your centre passes,” she said.

In the earlier match, the Eastern Cape Aloes beat the Mpumalanga Sunbirds by 38 goals to 26, but the Sunbirds played better than the scoreline suggests. After a stuttering start, when they were able to score only three goals in the first quarter, they came back strongly and outscored the Aloes 9-8 in the second. The Aloes led 21-12 at halftime.

“We started strong but they came at us in the second quarter,” said Aloes coach Des Neville.

“I would have liked a bigger goal difference, but I was able to play my whole bench and try out different combinations. I was very pleased with the younger players, especially Qamisa Jonas, who was playing in her first tournament after experiencing her first ever trip in an aircraft.”

“That first quarter cost us,” said Sunbirds coach Marlie Nel.

“But we definitely played better than last week, and it’s onwards and upwards from here.

“We don’t get too much time for training, but we spent the public holiday yesterday working on their mental attitude and on teamwork, and it definitely paid off,” said Nel.

WEEK 2 – DAY 1 RESULTS – 28 April 2017

Eastern Cape Aloes 38 vs Mpumalanga Sunbirds 26

Golden Fireballs 48 vs North West Flames 44

Tickets to these exciting brutal games are available from Computicket at R20 per person. SuperSport will be broadcasting selected live games on channel 210.